A Florida father has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after he killed his 2-month-old daughter by shoving a tissue deep down her throat and waiting for him to call 911, the local sheriff announced Monday.
Joseph Troy Napier, 30, of Vero Beach, Florida, was arrested and charged in the death of 2-month-old Iris Napier on Thursday, more than two years after the baby suffocated with a baby wipe on May 28, 2021, according to the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office ( IRCSO).
After a two-year investigation, Napier has been charged with manslaughter in the death of his young daughter and is currently being held in the Indian River County Jail on $750,000 bail, Sheriff Eric Flowers said at a news conference Monday. The sheriff said he might charge Napier with murder, but said investigators haven’t found enough evidence to prove he put a tissue in his daughter’s mouth with the intent to kill her, not just silence her.
– He had had enough of crying – said the sheriff. “This is not a good guy. He had enough. We lost a two-month-old infant. Our team did a great job proving that he had enough that day. He put a tissue in that child’s mouth. He pushed it far enough that this child choked . The doctors should have used forceps to go deep into this child’s throat.”
Footage of Joseph Napier, the Florida father who was arrested for allegedly shoving a baby wipe down his 2-month-old daughter’s throat, killing the infant. Indian River County Sheriff’s Office
It was unclear at the time of publication whether Napier had retained an attorney. Napier told investigators he did not harm Iris and said his 18-month-old daughter put a tissue in the 2-month-old girl’s mouth, the sheriff said.
He was the only person in the house with Iris and her brother and sister when the baby suffocated to death with a tissue. Iris’ mother was at work at the time of the incident, the sheriff said. He did not identify the mother, but said she had a “drug problem” and had been arrested.
Newsweek reached out Monday via email and the IRCSO website for comment.
Flowers said that while the case took two years to work, the investigation into Iris’ death began immediately after Napier called 911 on May 28, 2021, to report that his child was unresponsive.
When IRCSO deputies arrived at the scene on 6th Avenue in Vero Beach, they made contact with the caller, later identified as Napier, as well as his 2-month-old daughter who was “turning blue,” according to one of the responding deputies. Flowers said.
The deputy performed CPR and rushed the baby to an ambulance, however, despite efforts to save her life, she did not survive.
During the preliminary investigation, Napier told deputies he left 2-month-old Iris unattended with his 18-month-old daughter for about five to 10 minutes. When he returned to the room, he found the baby was choking, Flowers said. Napier told investigators he could only see a small white object in the back of the baby’s mouth and that she was in distress, but admitted he waited five minutes to call for help, the sheriff said.
“He waited five minutes to call 911,” Flowers said. “I don’t know about you. My child is choking, I’m calling 911 right away… Unacceptable, completely unacceptable. So he knew what he was doing. He knew he was the cause of this. He was to collect his story.”
Detectives later determined that Napier had been leaving the children alone for longer than he admitted, and discovered that he had spent at least 30 minutes on his cell phone, causing his timeline to be inaccurate. They also discovered numerous “complaints” about Iris that Napier sent by SMS to the girl’s mother while she was at work that day.
Flowers said authorities do not believe Napier’s claim that his 18-month-old daughter could have put a tissue in Iris’ mouth.
Doctors who treated Iris found she had a baby tissue stuffed “deep” down her throat, noting that the tissue was “so deep in the child’s throat” that it would have been impossible for the 2-month-old to have swallowed it on her own, Flowers said. Several other doctors told police that a child that young doesn’t have the motor skills to consume a tissue and “swallow to the point where you can’t see anymore.” Medical experts also told investigators that the 2-month-old would still have the tongue thrust or tongue thrust reflex, which helps prevent infants from choking, and that reflex would have made it difficult for the baby to inhale the tissue unless forced.
“Based on all the evidence gathered and in consultation with the doctors, it was determined that the only person present at the time of the incident who could have placed the handkerchief that deep down the child’s throat was Joseph Napier,” Flowers said in an online statement shared Monday afternoon.
The sheriff said the baby’s tissue caused an obstruction of the airway and resulted in her death.
Detectives discovered during the investigation while speaking with numerous doctors that an 18-month-old child would not have had the dexterity or hand and arm size necessary to push a tissue that deep down the child’s throat, according to the IRCSO.
Flowers said he believed Napier was tired of Iris crying because she was having cramps.
“Our forensics team determined that we proved that his claims that the 18-month-old put a tissue down the throat of the 2-month-old, that was not possible,” Flowers said. “He shoved that baby tissue down her throat to shut her up.”
Iris’ maternal grandfather, Joe Miller, who also spoke at the news conference, said he agreed.
Miller said he left Iris with Napier to go have dinner with another of his grandchildren shortly before she died. Miller said he believed Napier killed the girl because he couldn’t handle her crying, saying there was “a lot of anger” the day the girl died.
“While I was getting dressed, Joe [Napier] was screaming at the top of his lungs at the baby, ‘Why can’t you shut up?!'” Miller said. “That’s the last I heard.”
Miller, who was visibly emotional as he addressed the media, said Iris’ death is an open wound he and his family still carry, but said Napier’s arrest brings resolution.
“We fight it every day. It’s not going away,” Miller said. “Like anything else, we like to see closure.”
Iris’s sister, an 18-month-old girl who is now almost four years old, was placed in the care of a family member.
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